'Jam dbyangs bzhad pa's works provide a general overview of the concerns of many Tibetan authors who have devoted themselves, at least in part, to writing on śāstras. In his autobiographical Lectures on Tibetan Religious Culture, Geshe Sopa speaks of his education at the Byes College of Se ra Monastery near Lhasa. He lists there the five major areas of study—Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā), Middle Way Philosophy (Madhyamaka), Monastic Discipline (Vinaya), Advanced Doctrine (Abhidharma), and Epistemology (Pramāṇa)—and the texts that he studied (Sopa: 42-43; see also Rabten: 47-49):

1. (1) Maitreyanātha's Abhisamayālaṃkāra on Perfection of Wisdom, pertaining to which there are twenty Indian commentaries (the chief of which is by Haribhadra);
2. (2) Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra on Middle Way philosophy and ontology in general, as well as the works of Nāgārjuna;
3. (3) Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośaon "advanced doctrine" (although the most accurate doctrine, as perceived by most Tibetans, is that of Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra);
4. (4) Dharmakīrti's Pramāṇavārttika on epistemology.

These texts are at the core of the dGe lugs pa study of śāstra literature.

A different set of texts forms the basis of the recent śāstra curriculum of the schools of the rNying ma Order: the thirteen great texts (gzhung chen) (Tulku Thondup: 81-82).3 Two are on Vinaya and so will not be treated in this study of śāstras on philosophical subjects. The remaining eleven of the great texts are the following śāstras:[page 130]

1. (1-2) Asaṅga's Abhidharmasamuccaya and Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa—on advanced doctrine;
2. (3-5) Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra, and Āryadeva's Catuḥśataka—on the philosophy of Madhyamaka;
3. (6) Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra on bodhisattvas' practice;
4. (7-11) the five books attributed to Maitreya: theAbhisamayālaṃkāra, Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, Madhyāntavibhaṅga, Dharmadharmatāvibhaṅga, and Uttaratantra (also known as the Ratnagotravibhāga).

There are modern commentaries (of the mchan 'grel or annotation type) on some of the thirteen great texts by Mi pham Phyogs las rnam rgyal (1846-1912) and on all thirteen by gZhan phan chos kyi snang ba (1871-1927).4

Note that both lists include the Abhidharmakośa, the Madhyamakāvatāra, and the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. Additionally, the Bodhicaryāvatāra is a work whose study is important to all lineages of Buddhism in Tibet, although it is not always explicitly included in scholastic curricula.